Discovery BoxNumbers 5:31 
Context5:31 Then the man will be free from iniquity, but that woman will bear the consequences 1 of her iniquity.’” 2
Numbers 30:9
Context30:9 “But every vow of a widow or of a divorced woman which she has pledged for herself will remain intact. 3
Numbers 31:17
Context31:17 Now therefore kill every boy, 4 and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse with a man. 5
1 sn The text does not say what the consequences are. Presumably the punishment would come from God, and not from those administering the test.
2 tn The word “iniquity” can also mean the guilt for the iniquity as well as the punishment of consequences for the iniquity. These categories of meanings grew up through figurative usage (metonymies). Here the idea is that if she is guilty then she must “bear the consequences.”
3 tn The Hebrew text says her vow “shall stand against her.” In other words, she must fulfill, or bear the consequences of, whatever she vowed.
4 tn Heb “every male among the little ones.”
sn The command in holy war to kill women and children seems in modern times a terrible thing to do (and it was), and something they ought not to have done. But this criticism fails to understand the situation in the ancient world. The entire life of the ancient world was tribal warfare. God’s judgment is poured out on whole groups of people who act with moral abandonment and in sinful pursuits. See E. J. Young, My Servants, the Prophets, 24; and J. W. Wenham, The Enigma of Evil.
5 tn Heb “every woman who has known [a] man by lying with a man.”
